MY TOURS
I provide general introductory tours to this great city, as well as themed tours that look at specific aspects of what this amazing place has to offer – whether that is modern or historic, cultural or architectural. I can also put together a bespoke tour for you – whether you know exactly the kind of thing you would like to see or whether you only have a loose idea of what you might be interested in. Scroll down to see what I offer.
THEMED TOURS
I offer a number of themed or 'off the shelf' tours. London Blue Badge Guides are the only external guides allowed to take people around the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, St Paul's Cathedral, Windsor Castle and Hampton Court – and these historic venues all feature in my themed tours. The list below is not a comprehensive one, so contact me if there is something you want to see.
BESPOKE TOURS
I can work with you to put together a tour that fits your needs. You might have an interest in a particular period of history, writer, artist, architect or politician. You might want to find out more about a certain aspect of London culture – music, art, fashion, food. You might know exactly what you want or you might need me to steer you in the right direction (figuratively as well as literally).
Over the years I’ve put together some wonderful tours for people – What The French Have Done For Us In London, Exploring The Idea Of Sacred Spaces, Children’s Books & Writers, Detective Stories & Writers, Decoding London’s Imperial Streets, How London Remembers Its Dead, Exploring The River Thames, The Original Social Network (A History of Communication) and A Tour of London Through Song.
THEMED TOUR LIST
INTRODUCTION TO LONDON
THE CITY
New to London? It can be an overwhelming city but if you’re new here and want someone to make it easy, come on a tour with me. A really good introduction – tweaked to the needs of whoever is taking the tour – will make the rest of your stay fall into place, and will inform without overwhelming.
Right at the heart of the vast expanse of London is an area of one square mile that we call The City. The City means trade, from the Romans 2,000 years ago to the 21st century global financial markets. It’s an area built on a Medieval street pattern above the remains of Roman Londinium and its tale is one of reinvention after disasters like the Great Fire of London and the Blitz. The City is home to St Paul’s Cathedral and the Tower of London as well as extraordinary architectural contrasts.
WESTMINSTER – A STORY OF POWER
LEGAL LONDON
A thousand years ago King Edward the Confessor created a royal town on the banks of the River Thames to the west of the City of London. He built two buildings, Westminster Abbey for royal ceremonies and the Palace of Westminster, today the Houses of Parliament. The fresher air of West London meant that further palaces were built and the great institutions of state gradually evolved. Come on a walk with me to explore Parliament Square, Whitehall and Downing Street, St James' Park, the Horseguards and, last but not least, Buckingham Palace.
Who knew that the law could be so, well, beautiful. The four Inns of Court are at the heart of London yet in these stunning courtyards and alleyways you’ll feel closer to the 16th century than the institutions of state and finance. Come and learn about the story of our legal system in the place where lawyers have worked for some 500 years and see how the law is evolving in the 21st century while still keeping its traditions. This is the London of Dickens and Shakespeare.
STREET ART
BLOOMSBURY
Come with me to the place where the streets are the canvas and the walls have attitude. This is art with something to say in streets where every building has a story to tell. Provocative, thought-provoking, engaging, creative and lots of fun, we’ll explore the London scene with the greats like Jimmy C, Shepherd Fairey, Mr Cenz, Dan Kitchener, Zabou, Stik and Eine along with works that don’t yet exist. Discover and decode East London’s street art scene with me and immerse yourself in its stories, legends and creativity.
Home to many of our major academic institutions, for centuries Bloomsbury has attracted intellectuals, academics, creative thinkers who found their tribe in the squares, gardens and houses of this most elegant of areas. The name is synonymous with the Bloomsbury Group whose intellectual salons had an influence way beyond their time and place. Bloomsbury is also home to the British Museum. Writers such as T S Eliot, W B Yeats, Dickens, J M Barrie, Wilkie Collins, Dorothy L Sayers and Virginia Woolf all come into the story of Bloomsbury.
THE OLYMPIC PARK
SOHO
On July 27th 2012 the Queen and James Bond parachuted into the Olympic Park and the 2012 Games began, watched by a billion people worldwide. Having won the bid against the odds in 2012, a toxic industrial wasteland was transformed into the most eco-friendly sports park the world had ever seen. And today? Come and have your mind blown. World class sporting venues, hundreds of new homes, beautifully landscaped gardens, inventive play areas and stunning views
Nowhere says the Swinging Sixties like Soho – the 1760s and the 1960s. Tucked away in the heart of London’s West End, Soho is where living on the edge is the norm and being different is what everyone has in common. The birthplace of television and roller skates, this is the London of Mozart, Karl Marx, Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Nina Simone and so, so many more. From the rock and roll Georgians to the 1960s dandies of Carnaby Street, let me tell you about the high life and low life of the original cosmopolitan London.
HAMPTON COURT
MULTICULTURAL LONDON
Some 500 years ago, when the tides were right, Henry VIII would be rowed along the Thames to his country retreat at Hampton Court. You can still feel the buzz of Tudor court life here in its working kitchen, the Great Hall, the astrological clock that still works, the chapel where he worshipped and the real tennis court. This is where Henry VIII jousted and the ghost of his fifth wife is said to haunt the corridors. The back of the palace was remodelled 300 years ago to create an English Versailles and the State Apartments and the gardens give us a tangible feel of court life.
London is arguably the most culturally diverse city on the world with more than 250 languages spoken. People from all over the world call London home, creating a cultural hothouse that is diverse, creative and at the heart and soul of contemporary London. To quote that famous Peruvian immigrant, Paddington Bear, “In London everyone is different, and that means anyone can fit in.”
DICKENS'S LONDON
GREENWICH
“Mr Weller’s knowledge of London was extensive and peculiar,” wrote Charles Dickens. He could have been talking about himself. Dickens is THE chronicler of 19th century London and he wrote about it with such heart because he walked its streets obsessively, understood its underbelly, felt its pain, dramatised its triumphs and, above all, celebrated its people. Come and visit those streets with me and hear about his amazing life, his ear for the drama of words and the power of a good cliffhanger. He was an extraordinary man in an extraordinary city at an extraordinary time.
The Royal Borough of Greenwich is the home of time, travel and the power of royal patronage. Its unique ensemble of historic buildings set within Greenwich Park make up one of London’s UNESCO World Heritage sites as well as being our most used film location and with some of the most beautiful views in London. The story of Greenwich is a story of adventure, discovery, entrepreneurs, England’s growth as a superpower, Greenwich Mean Time and the prime meridian, zero degrees longitude and Britain’s place as a maritime superpower.
DOCKLANDS
SOUTHWARK AND BANKSIDE
At the beginning of the 20th century London’s docks to the east of the City were the largest in the world. After the bombing of the Blitz and the invention of container ships the docks gradually closed and became an area of unemployment and deprivation. Then in the 1980s a programme of regeneration was started that transformed the area and shifted London to the east. Today Canary Wharf is a financial centre as important as the City of London. Fascinating social and industrial history meets capitalism in this most stunning of backdrops.
This is where Charles Dickens walked in the footsteps of William Shakespeare who walked in the footsteps of Geoffrey Chaucer. Outside the City walls and on the wrong side of the river, the 21st century lives cheek by jowl with the past. In one of London’s most atmospheric districts, you can go down to the foreshore of the River Thames at low tide, be tempted by the aromas of Borough Market, see Tate Modern and Shakespeare’s Globe, all in the shadow of the Shard. This is Londoners’ London so come and share it with us.